Apple Beats The Calendar And the Street

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 10 - Apple Computer introduced on Tuesday its first Macintosh computers using chips from Intel, several months ahead of schedule.

Steven P. Jobs, Apple's chief executive, unveiled a new iMac computer and a new notebook computer called the MacBook Pro at Macworld Expo here, a highly anticipated annual event at which the company usually shows off new products and initiatives.

Mr. Jobs also revealed that Apple's revenue for the quarter ended Dec. 31 jumped 63 percent, to $5.7 billion. The figure easily beat Wall Street's expectations, as sales of the iPod portable music player more than tripled compared with the holiday quarter in 2004. Revenue for that quarter was $3.5 billion.

Mr. Jobs said the company sold 14 million iPods during the holiday quarter, up from 4.5 million during the 2004 holiday season. Perhaps more surprising was the news that Apple sold 1.25 million Macintosh computers in the quarter, up from 1.05 million in 2004, despite the worries of some analysts that consumers would delay their purchases. Sales at Apple's retail stores rose to about $1 billion, Mr. Jobs said.

The early financial disclosure marks a departure for Apple, which is considered among the most guarded of Silicon Valley companies. The company is scheduled to report earnings for the quarter on Monday.

Shares of Apple, based in Cupertino, Calif., rose more than 6 percent on Tuesday, or $4.81, to close at $80.86. The stock is up 12.5 percent this year, after rising 127 percent in 2005.

Apple's decision to incorporate the Intel chips months ahead of time came as a surprise. Last June, the company said it was abandoning I.B.M.'s Power PC processor line, which it had used for 14 years, as well as chips from its other major supplier, Freescale Semiconductor. The move was considered a watershed announcement in an industry that has long considered Intel an ally of Microsoft, Apple's giant rival.

Mr. Jobs has said that the Intel chips would allow Apple to make faster and more versatile computers and media devices than it could have with its previous chip suppliers. "The iMac has already been praised as the gold standard of desktop PC's, so we hope customers really love the new iMac, which is up to twice as fast," Mr. Jobs said.

Mr. Jobs also introduced an update of Apple's iLife suite of software that is intended to make it easier to create, edit and distribute online photographs, movies, podcasts and other digital content. The company also introduced a new device to allow iPod users to listen to FM stations.

The announcements were in keeping with Apple's broader strategy of building on the success of the iPod with new hardware and services in the growing realm of digital media.

In October, Apple introduced an iPod that can play video, and started selling television shows and music videos on its iTunes online store for $1.99 each.

Mr. Jobs said Apple had sold eight million videos and television shows since then. Apple has also been offering a remote control with new iMacs that allows customers to operate the computers as they would a television or DVD player.

Mr. Jobs said the entire Macintosh line would be converted to Intel chips by the end of this year, a move that analysts say could help take market share from Windows-based personal computers. "This gives Apple a brighter future," said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, a consulting firm. "I think the Intel chip is going to get consumers' attention."

In an interview on Tuesday, Mr. Jobs said Apple increased its share of the computer market in 2005 to roughly 4 percent, from 3 percent. "All we have to do is get 4 or 5 percent of Windows users to switch, and we'll be in great shape," Mr. Jobs said.

Bob O'Donnell, an analyst at IDC, a market research company, said the new Intel-based Macs would for the first time let customers compare Macs with PC's directly, since the microprocessors and other internal parts would be the same. But that could work to Apple's disadvantage, given that the company still charges a premium for its systems, Mr. O'Donnell said. "They're playing in a whole new field now," he said.

Intel's chips are based on dual-core technology, in which two processing engines reside on a single piece of silicon. The result is faster performance, conservation of power and less heat.

"Intel has a lot better chip," Mr. Jobs said.

Mr. Jobs was joined by Paul S. Otellini, the chief executive of Intel, who wore on stage a white lab suit like those worn by Intel workers in clean rooms. Mr. Otellini said his company had dedicated more than 1,000 employees to developing the chip for Apple.

In an interview, Mr. Otellini said the relationship would help it expand into the Apple market, which is growing faster than the Windows-based market, in part because of the iPod. "It's a good new market for us with good growth," Mr. Otellini said.

Mr. Jobs said he fully expected some users to run Windows on the new Macs eventually, which could make Apple's computers an attractive alternative to PC's that run only Windows. "I'm not going to do anything to preclude that," he said.

The Intel-based Macs will run the latest version of Apple's operating system along with applications from Microsoft and others. Mr. Jobs tried to allay any fears among customers by demonstrating compatibility between the new systems and existing Mac software.

The shift to Intel's chips is considered a significant move because it requires software developers to modify their programs, a process that Mr. Jobs said was well under way.

Mr. Bajarin of Creative Strategies said: "A lot of people were concerned that the transition to the Intel platform would not be smooth. Apple proved today that it not only is smooth, it is seamless."

The new iMac is available now, while the MacBook Pro, which is meant to replace the PowerBook eventually, is to be available in February. The iMac's price is to stay unchanged at $1,299 for models with 17-inch monitors and $1,699 for those with 20-inch monitors, and the MacBook will be priced at $1,999 and $2,499 depending on the chip speed. Both models will have a 15.4-inch screen.

Correction: January 12, 2006, Thursday An article in Business Day yesterday about new computers introduced by Apple misstated the day next week when the company is scheduled to report quarterly earnings. It is Wednesday, not Monday.

Laurie J. Flynn reported from San Francisco for this article, and Vikas Bajaj from New York.